When Trying To Look Smart Makes You Look Stupid
September 8th, 2026
Disrespected. Again.
Baker Mayfield got shat on again. And this time by a guy trying to look like the next Bill Walsh but instead comes across as a Michael Fabiano wannabe.
(What are the five most feared words in the broadcast medium? “We welcome in Michael Fabiano.”)
Joe has nothing against stats or advanced stats so long as the guy cobbling together the numbers appears enlightening or at least semi-intelligent.
There is nothing intelligent about trying to push a stat that suggests Mayfield is a worse quarterback than runaround never-been Marcus Mariota or unproven Jaxson Dart or washed up Kirk Cousins.
Now if having a blazing hot girlfriend means something, then Dart is a world-class quarterback. Joe isn’t sure Austin Mock of The Athletic is factoring in the WAG element. (Mock is a self-described “analytics nerd.” In this case, the emphasis is on “nerd.”)
And Cousins? Joe hopes Mock is aware Cousins plays against other defenses than one run by Todd Bowles.
Mock has concocted a numbers formula to measure a quarterback’s worth called “QBI.” He describes his Frankenstein as “QBI is a metric we’ve created that strips away the contributions from a quarterback’s 10 offensive teammates and credits only what the quarterback provides on a per-play basis.”
You might be better off watching a stripper for quarterback insight. Mock confesses his stat “isn’t perfect.” Well, he’s dead-on correct there.
Mock ranks Mayfield at No. 25 among quarterbacks. Some other examples that either made Joe’s eyebrow raise like Derrick Brooks, or otherwise made Joe ill:
No. 3 Brock Purdy
No. 8 Pat Mahomes
No. 11 Mac Jones
No. 14 Marcus Mariota
No. 15 Tyler Shough
No. 22 Jared Goff
No. 23 Caleb Williams
No. 24 Kirk Cousins
No. 25 Baker Mayfield
Another good one is that Mock has Spencer Rattler ranked over Cam Ward. You’d think whatever calculation Mock that determined Mac Jones is a No. 11 quarterback in the NFL, something should have clicked in his head that he had return to his PowerPoint file and start over.
Look, Joe appreciates advanced stats and Joe uses them more than you may think. But pulling out crap like this to prove you’re worth a paycheck and trying to make others think you’re smarter than the average fan, well, this is a giant faceplant.
But, Joe gives credit to Mock for having the guts to slap his name to something as comical as this.
This stat is so bad, Joe thinks it may even elicit a laugh from the PFF tribe.
September 8th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Mariota?
September 8th, 2026 at 12:08 pm
This is actually reeeee tarded. His projection is based on QBs worth not factoring the other 10 players. So, a FRANCHISE QB…. You know a QB who can carry a team, one that can win when others are down or not available. F’ing insane these people get paid
September 8th, 2026 at 12:08 pm
Blazing Hot! Good grief!
September 8th, 2026 at 12:13 pm
There’s only one stat that matters, wins.
Mayfield is 58-62 in the regular season for an 8-9 average.
Playoffs he is 2-3 all time.
In the biggest moments he fails to succeed, consistently.
Cousins beat Mayfield handily in 2025. That is a damning stat on it’s own.
September 8th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
Jared Goff #22?
He’s top 5 easily
September 8th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
Worthless! Go Bucs!
September 8th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
Joe why?
September 8th, 2026 at 12:28 pm
These stats are as worthless as a summer with George!
September 8th, 2026 at 12:28 pm
Sounds like Mock might be doing his best Lil’ Kev impression. Sweet Dee would def date this guy!
September 8th, 2026 at 12:33 pm
Well Cousins actually made a play in the clutch to beat Baker head-to-head last time they met – and a big play. Meanwhile Baker couldn’t complete a simple 7 yard pass to a wide open receiver to close out the same game.
Then the next game, with the season on the line, Baker throws a bad INT to end the game. And no, it’s not about the route that Mike was running (and again he had already turned up field when Baker still had the ball in his hand – video shows that) but instead the fact that Baker had two wide open receivers on the right side of the field for big games, and instead made a very risky contested throw when the team was already in FG range and at worst could have tied the game.
Then when bailed out by the NFC South, and given yet another chance to save the season, Baker had probably his worst game as a Buc when he went to Miami and just played like complete and total trash.
Now, would I put Baker at 25? No. But the idea he’s one of the best QBs in the NFL is completely laughable and not backed up by anything.
Great QBs don’t have a 2-11 record in prime-time and playoff games – they don’t choke almost every single time the spotlight is on them.
But hey, if you need to beat the Jets in week 2, give me Baker. Then give me someone else when the season is on the line or it’s a playoff game.
September 8th, 2026 at 12:37 pm
Goff top 5 easily WTF. You better check QBR from last year.
September 8th, 2026 at 12:56 pm
Just another example of an idiot allowed to publish something stupid by a dumb editor.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:01 pm
RobMunch. I agree 100 💯 percent bro that’s all facts and I’ve been saying the same thing since after the Patriots game. People don’t understand that the score stayed 21-16 for 14 minutes and 35 seconds in the 3rd quarter until the last 3 minutes in the 4th quarter. Where was Baker and the offense in between that time ? To me this is why I don’t believe he’s a franchise quarterback it’s been to many games like this. But why do some of you guys call it hate when it’s just facts ?
September 8th, 2026 at 1:08 pm
Oneilbuc – In that Pats game, the Bucs defense gave the Bucs offense the ball back three times in a row in a one score game, and the Bucs offense scored 0 points. Then everyone lost their mind on the 4th possession when the Pats got a TD to make it a 2 score late in the 4th after the offense hung the defense out to dry.
As for Baker, his record is what it is. But he’s got yet another chance to turn it around. As a Bucs fan, I hope he can pull it off, since it means the Bucs are winning in the playoffs and if he can do that, all is forgiven and he’ll win over his critics – at least me anyways. Winning cures all ills.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:12 pm
Why ‘credit Mock for having the guts to slap his name to something as comical as this’? If his analysis is THAT bad (and it is), why subject all JBFers to his buffoonery?
September 8th, 2026 at 1:14 pm
I actually like what this guy is trying to do: isolate QB performance from team performance. Does anyone have any critiques of his methodology, as opposed to some unexpected results? QB play is so entangled with team play that I’d be surprised if the results +weren’t+ counter-intuitive if the metric actually succeeded.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:27 pm
Blazing HOT LIKE THE SUN…working that in is one of many reasons why I ❤️ JBF.
PS that’s what ‘all caps’ is intended for gentlemen.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:27 pm
There’s advanced analytics, and then there’s putting enough decimals behind a stupid idea that people are afraid to call it stupid.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:28 pm
Baker is not the answer, it’s time to draft a franchise qb.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:29 pm
The first thing I did when I saw the ranking’s Joe pulled was laugh pretty hard. The second thing I did was notice that if Shough, Mahomes, Purdy and Mac Jones are all at least ten spots above where I and others would rank them, this metric is not assessing how much the play caller bears on offensive success after one accounts for everything and everyone else. Kellen Moore, Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan are the best in the biz at calling plays.
Mayfield and Goff are similarly about ten spots from where most would have them but lower. Dan Campbell had to take over play calling for Goff last season and Mayfield had green Grizzard.
I guessed injuries were also unaccounted for but then I decided I need to read the article. Mock used a lot of people and compute to concoct this useless index but if there is one sabermetric weighted so that it drives the names up and down this list it’s some hokum called: dropback success rate. Methinks that might have way more to do with who is calling what play than all Mock’s contortions of the other ten guys and negative plays.
The last section on “where we will be seeing QB1” in the future, it’s going to be behind the paywall for the Athletic. This is so bad and this dude’s name being Mock makes me think this might be a deep troll job but no, it’s the toilet paper of record shilling undercooked mumbo jumbo like it’s some bleeding edge stuff with which to predict and win the future. Oh, yeah, predictive QB1- that will accurately predict QB performance years into the future is on its way. They’re on the edge of dropping that version, apparantly.
This QB1 might just be worth keeping up with just for the lulz.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:40 pm
Quick….someone go post Mock’s article/stats right in the middle of Baker’s locker. Heck, post it all over the Buc’s locker room.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:45 pm
Stats describe how a whole unit functions, NOT an individual. There’s no amount of tinkering that will ever give you something worth using for an individual player. That’s not how this sport works and it’s a fool’s errand.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:45 pm
HopeIn1Hand: Good point about the play callers. Dunno how you would control for that.
September 8th, 2026 at 1:59 pm
Sounds like this guy’s grown up to hearing and being Mock-ed?
September 8th, 2026 at 2:11 pm
I don’t believe Baker Mayfield is the 25th best QB in the NFL
He should be ranked somewhere between 16-20
September 8th, 2026 at 2:12 pm
Baker should be ranked somewhere between 16-20